Russo's Restaurant is a big improvement over Brindisi's in terms of food, updated decor, and nicer staff. No offense to Andy Brindisi, but his staff were not very personable and the food was inconsistent (I had eaten there 6+ times). No doubt Brindisi had the best chowder on multiple years of Chowderfest and he supported the town, but his restaurant rarely rose to the top of anyone's list that I know. Russo's is chef owned by Joe Russo, his wife Lisa was on the floor and very nice and personable. Yes, it is their first restaurant technically but Joe's family has owned Russo's of Amsterdam for many, many years and he cooked there so he is not a newcomer to the business. And it shows. Things like homemade bread, great homemade sausage, terrific eggplant parm, good sauce (recipe supposedly 40 old), nice bruschetta. More importantly the place lacks pretension, unlike Forno, Chianti's, One Caroline, and Max Londons which are all a bit snooty in terms of staff's over-inflated egos. To boot the price of dinner was very fair and we were all stuffed and satisfied.

Have not been to Russo's yet, but it certainly is on the "to do" list. Have to disagree with the comment on "snootiness" in Forno and Chianti's. Have always been treated courteously and with professionalism at both places, without any sense of staff hautiness. Had an issue one time with an entree at Chianti's that unfortunately didn't make it out of the kitchen in time with the other ones in our party. It was dealt with very professionally. Entree repaired, charge taken off the bill, and complimentary desserts and after dinner Limoncellos for our party of four.